Lock Poker Leaves Revolution Gaming, Now an Independent Poker Room

Thursday, October 31st, 2013 by Ryan

In terms of surprising poker news, this definitely comes in as one of the most surprising bits of news that I’ve seen in a while. Maybe not as much surprising, as it is just crazy. Crazy is probably a good word to use to sum up how things have gone for Lock Poker over the past few years. As you know Lock was originally on the Merge Gaming Network, and they decided to take a completely different direction and go to the Revolution Gaming Network, which they pretty much created on their own. Now, the news has gone a completely different direction, as Lock Poker has made a change yet again, and this change is going to be looked upon as a major downfall, and probably just a spiral that will continue for Lock.

The troubled poker room has decided to leave the Revolution Gaming Network, and they are now going to be an Independent online poker room. They didn’t give their players a heads up either, as the migration to their own site is going to leave players locked out of their accounts, so as you can imagine this didn’t get a very good response from the players. After the transition was done, players were then informed that they needed to go to the Lock Poker website, and download the new software that Lock had out there, and this was called “Lock Poker v2.”

There wasn’t much really said about things in all honesty, but they did release a short press release, and it basically stated that they are going to continue to offer their 36 percent rakeback through affiliates, and that they are also going to be using the same VIP program that was used int he past. The assets that were attached with players’ accounts, such as the tournament tickets, any bonuses, and of course the loyalty points are all going to be transferred into the players’ new Lock Poker account, which will make the transition as easy as possible to get things moved over and get players onto the new site. Lock Poker also stated that they decided to “exercise its right to terminate the contract” as a result of what they call “numerous and ongoing breaches of contract by the current network operator.”

Things just continue to get more and more interesting though, because if a Lock Poker player tries to go to their old account, and attempts to launch the client, you are going to find that you get automatically redirected to a new Revolution site that is called Pure Poker. Players are then encouraged to download the client. The funniest part about the transfer to the new site, isn’t even so much the transfer, but the message that goes along with it. It says the following:

“Due to Lock’s ongoing financial issues, the poker service to Lock was terminated. We apologize for the inconvenience. Pure Poker is offering you a chance to redeem your Lock player balance immediately. Sign up with your Lock player email here. Go here to learn how to redeem your balance and create a ticket for more details. Pure Poker has been operating with integrity for 14 years, catering to niche players globally. In addition to playing with the same proven software, we offer faster payouts and immediate access to a Sportsbook.”

Lock Poker made sure to fire back about this though, as they put out a letter on their website today that stated that Pure Poker’s site “contains false and misleading information.” It also states that this redirect is an “attempt by the network to take Lock players and damage Lock’s business via a deceptive and misleading practice.” Lock then makes sure to state that they have no relationship with Pure Poker, and that Pure Poker has no player data or account details from Lock’s site. It seems like we have a battle here between the two sides, and that they are definitely fighting for the same players.

This all has led to the poker community out there pretty much assuming that Pure Poker is not going to give players their Lock Poker balances, but will give them some type of bonus that will have playthrough requirements, sort of as a form of marketing. A player on the Two Plus Two forum said that they received $50 from Pure Poker, and said that it could take up to 7 days to confirm your balance, and that balances that have $200 or more, are dealt with on a “player by player basis.”

Lock Poker isn’t having any of this, and they have also threatened to take legal action against both people involved in this party, including the Revolution Gaming Network, as well as Pure Poker themselves. Lock Poker has been getting some very negative reviews though, so it’s making many players scratch their heads. Withdrawals are so slow at Lock Poker, and can take around six months sometimes, that the cashout speed received a rating of a D- recently. We’ve spoken in the past about people selling off their balances at 20 to 30 cents on the dollar, just to get some funds back. Chip dumping has been a big issue now on Lock Poker, and this has made Intertops, which is a respected site on the network review all cash game wins before they credit any accounts.